User blog:PeabodySam/Maelstrom in LEGO Digital Designer
In light of the recent blog posts about "I'm leaving!", "This wiki is crazy!", and "Pointing fingers!", I've decided to use this blog function for a more... constructive purpose. Since beta testing, I've been recreating LEGO Universe's NPCs and such in LEGO Digital Designer. However, the more interesting files I've worked on are not the NPC files but rather the enemy files. Due to the unique nature of LEGO Universe's enemies, they take more creativity to recreate than, say, Johnny Thunder or Bert Scurvyburp. Sure, we received official LXF files of the Stromling Ape and Dark Spiderling, but the latter was horribly inaccurate. Other than that, I only had screenshots and gameplay footage at my disposal. Thus, it takes creativity... to recreate destruction. I present to you... Maelstrom* in LEGO Digital Designer! *Plus the Bone Wolf, Underhand, Bone Vulture, and Skeleton Mad Scientist, which I know are technically not Maelstrom. FAQ "How did you makes these models?" :The Stromling Ape and "official" Dark Spiderling are not created by me, as they are official LXF files from the LEGO Universe website. The Stromling Mech, Maelstrom Dragon, and Maelstrom Galleon are recolored versions of official LEGO sets. Other than these exceptions, I built everything here myself, using only screenshots to aid me. I did not take these models from anyone else. I will give credit to LEGO Universe Wiki for image references when coloring the Invaders, and also to PatchM142 for helping immensely in designing the Maelstrom Spider's lasers; I don't think I could have done it without this screenshot he took. "May I use your models?" :Please do. The whole point of posting these models here with download links is so that you guys can have access to the builds of the Maelstrom. However, I do request that, if you wish to do this, you do this under one small condition. The Stromling Ape and inaccurate Dark Spiderling are free to use without credit, since they are the official LEGO.com LXF files, and the same applies to the Stromling Mech and Maelstrom Dragon, since they are based upon real LEGO sets. However, for the others, I would politely request that you credit me for inspiration, especially for the Dark Spiderling and Maelstorm Spider models. "How do you unlock LEGO Digital Designer Extended mode?" :Thank you, Eagleeyedan, for answering this question. "you can unlock LDD extended by going into the programfiles>Lego company> LDD > Preferences.ini> Edit it> add a line that says "themeaccess =LDDextended"." "How do you get that blue-ish purple and lighter variations of the same color?" :Before LEGO Digital Designer Extended was released, LEGO Digital Designer: LEGO Universe mode had tons of variations on the colors currently available in the program. Most of these colors still function in the software even though they are no longer accessible. I believe that Aanchir's Complete LDD Color Chart includes all colors available in LEGO Digital Designer, including these colors. "How do you put two shoulder pads on one minifigure, like the Stromling Admiral?" :This is a trick that can only be done with certain pieces, such as beards and Indiana Jones's Messenger Bag, that do not require a raised head on a minifig (basically, these are pieces in LEGO Digital Designer that you can attach to a minifig after the head is already attached). First, place the head on the minifig, and then place the beard, bag, etc. onto the minifig. Select both the head and the beard, then remove them from the minifig body. Then, place the shoulder pads onto the minifig body. Select both the head and the beard again and reattach them to the body. If it does not work, that means that the beard, bag, etc. is not compatible with the shoulder pad. If it does work, technically the beard, bag, etc. is not attached to the model, but floating in mid-air at the precise location where it gives the illusion of being attached. :Similarly, the Bone Vulture's head is not actually attached to the body, as Takadox's head is not compatible with the skeleton body in LEGO Digital Designer. "Attaching" it required a more complex version of the method above that involved using Pl.Round 1x1 W. Throughg. Hole bricks. "Who's the pirate like guy on the scrapped?" :Technically, this guy was never scrapped, but he never appeared in-game either, hence why he is under "unused". Play Mission 18 or Mission 19 and take a good look at the Stromlings that either Hael Storm or Vanda Darkflame encounter. Grey head, two cutlasses like Stromling Pirates, yellow shirt, and brown pants. While really not that significant of a Stromling, I decided to recreate it as well. "You do realize that the Maelstrom Galleon and Bone Wolf are not 100% accurate, right?" :Yes. Thanks to Le717, who has successfully extracted the raw LXF files from LEGO Universe, I can now see some errors in the Maelstrom Galleon and Bone Wolf. In the former's case, I could see from screenshots that the Maelstrom Galleon was a purple-black version of an official set, so I was going more for a recoloring of the original Mini Galleon from 5525 Amusement Park that suited the Maelstrom color scheme rather than a perfect replication, which would be hard to do based upon screenshots since the Maelstrom Galleon is so far away from the camera. In the latter's case, while the model was almost 100% accurate, I could swear from all the screenshots that the fangs were pearl white, not brick yellow. If I feel like it, I may update it, but until then, you have Le717's official model. Download *Maelstrom *Maelstrom Spider *Dark Spiderlings *Maelstrom Galleon *Bone Wolf *Underhand *Bone Vulture *Skeleton Mad Scientist Gallery LDDMaelstrom.png|Every Maelstrom enemy LDDMaelstrom-Unused.png|Unused Maelstrom enemies LDDMaelstrom-Spider.png|Maelstrom Spider LDDDark-Spiderlings.png|Dark Spiderlings LDDStromling-Mechs.png|Stromling Mech (with and without Maelstrom glow effects) LDDMaelstrom-Galleon.png|Maelstrom Galleon LDDBone-Wolf-Underhand.png|Bone Wolf and Underhand LDDBone-Vulture.png|Bone Vulture LDDMad-Engineers.png|Skeleton Mad Scientists